Chapter 22
CARA
Iarrived home on the morning of Christmas Eve. I pulled into the driveway in front of my parents’ house and turned off the engine of my rental car. I was home, where I could climb into my childhood bed and nurse my broken heart.
But only for today. I would feel the pain for a long time to come, not only for what Nick and I already had but also for the potential of what could have been.
But I wouldn’t hide in my apartment and wait for scraps like occasional text messages and booty calls.
For one thing, Nick wasn’t the kind of man who would do that to me.
For another, I’d agreed when he’d asked me to get on with my life and I didn’t want to break my last promise to him.
I would dive into my art and my friendships. I’d get a cat. And I’d miss Nick from afar but I would hope for all the best things for him. He hadn’t broken my heart. He’d healed it. Maybe I’d helped heal his, too. But I would spend a long time wishing things could have been different.
Okay, maybe I was heartbroken, after all, but that was the fault of the circumstances, not the man.
I climbed out of the car and dropped my keys into the purse I’d received from Nick’s spy boss, Kat. She’d given me that, a few changes of clothes, some expensive shampoo—all of which she wanted me to keep—and a lot of advice on adopting a cat. In a different world, we might have become friends.
I picked up the bag full of Kat’s gifts, centered myself to prepare for all the questions my parents would have about the things I’d been keeping from them, and trudged to the house.
When I stepped inside, I heard their voices coming from the family room.
They were awfully wide awake for 8 a.m. and from the sound of it, already in a celebratory mood.
I stared longingly at the stairs. I wanted to go to my childhood room and crawl into bed, but ignoring my family would hurt their feelings.
I turned to walk to the family room and ran into a large, sturdy cardboard box. My name was on the delivery tag. There was a second box that was large enough for my suitcase to be inside it. But the one in front of me was larger, and it could only be one thing.
My heart pounded faster. Buddy and his wife Sue had packed all my left-behind belongings, and Kat had promised to have them shipped express, but I couldn’t believe Mother Tree had beaten me home.
I carefully and quietly cut through the package tape.
Inside the box, on a cushion of bubble wrap, was an envelope.
I opened it. It was a Christmas card addressed to Nick and me, and signed by so many of the people we’d met in the small town that every inch of blank space had been covered in ink.
I laughed and wiped away tears, wishing Nick were here to see it, too.
When I tried to put away the card, I realized there were two photos in the envelope.
The first was of Buddy and Sue, each standing on a side of Mother Tree and smiling.
The second was the same shot but without them in it.
From the lighting and bookcases behind the piece, I realized they’d taken the pictures in one location I hadn’t, in the large library of their inn.
I flipped over the picture. They’d written Mother Tree at The Claus Towne Inn, and under that had printed, “She’s so beautiful. We hope whoever is getting her loves her as much as we do.”
Tears ran down my face. I wiped them away before someone in my family found me crying. I touched the bubble wrap without moving it, then closed the box. I wouldn’t unpack her. She didn’t belong here.
“Cara, is that you, honey?” my mom called from the family room.
“It is. Be there in a minute.”
My brother came to the front hall to greet me. He wrapped me in a hug. “You’ve spurred quite the family discussion.”
I glanced down at the big box and thought about the viral video. “Did you hear about Mother Tree?”
He gave me a blank look.
“My sculpture?”
“Sorry. I haven’t heard anything about that. This isn’t about your art. It’s about your breakup.”
My stomach dropped. My first thought was to wonder how they knew about Nick. Then I realized that wasn’t the breakup in question. Things with Riley seemed so long ago and were so insignificant, I didn’t want to spend my energy discussing it, but I supposed I didn’t have a choice.
“I’m going to need some fortification before I explain it to the parents,”I said. “Tell me there’s coffee. Or maybe spiked Nog.”
“Care Bear,” Jake touched my elbow to stop me. “They already know what happened.”
My mouth went dry. “What do you mean they know? How do they know?”
Jake sighed. “This is supposed to be a surprise for when you get in there, but he’s here.”
“Nick’s here?” My stomach did the weird, fluttery thing it had done every time I’d thought about him during my two-hour drive. Not that I’d spent a minute of that time not thinking about him.
Jake shook his head. “No. Riley’s here. Who the hell is Nick?” His face darkened. “Is he the affair guy?”
“The what?”
“Cara, stop shouting at your brother and come say hello,” Dad called.
I glared at Jake.
“They’re excited to see your face when Riley surprises you by announcing he’s forgiven you for cheating and he’s taking you back.”
“What the…?” Rage poured through me and I could barely form words. “Lies. Every word he said, lies!”
I started toward the family room, then whirled back around to Jake. “And even if you believe him, believe I left him for someone else—which is complete bullshit, by the way—why would you be rooting for Riley? I’m your sister. I’m family. Why aren’t you more worried about my happiness?”
“I... We...” Jake shrugged. “He’s Riley. I guess we thought you’d want him back. I’m sorry.” Jake tried to touch my shoulder, but I backed away.
“No. I’m too furious. You’re on his side because you think he’s the prize in our relationship. In our former relationship. He is not the prize. I am the prize. I AM THE FUCKING PRIZE!”
Jake held up his hands. “I’m sorry. Let’s just—”
“Cara,” my mom and dad said in unison.
They’d emerged from the hallway beside the stairs. Behind them stood the liar of the hour. More like the century.
My rage changed from red-hot to ice-cold as I stared down the man I’d once wanted to marry. What the hell had I been thinking? “I cannot believe you have the gall to show up here and lie to my parents after all the things you’ve done to me.”
“Cara, I—”
“No,” I told him. “You don’t get to say another word.” I pointed at my parents. “And you need to forget everything he told you because it was all bullshit.”
“It was a misunderstanding,” Riley said calmly.
“Lies!” I shouted.
Yes, I knew who looked like the unstable one, but that was part of Riley’s game.
It came in to such sharp focus in that moment.
His BS wasn’t new. He’d been pulling it on me for years.
He would do everything in his power to throw me off-kilter, then play the aggrieved victim of an unreasonable harpy.
“Let’s go over some facts, shall we?” I asked.
“One, you kicked me out of our home—my home—in July, with less than a week’s notice to find a new place to live.
Thank God for my friends you badmouthed all those years, because they were the ones who helped me land on my feet.
Then you kept me on the hook for monthly booty calls. ”
“Dude, what the hell?” Jake clenched his fists at his sides. “That’s my sister.”
“Wait, go back.” My dad furrowed his brow and glanced between Riley and me. “You kicked my daughter out onto the street?”
I laid my hand on Jake’s shoulder and shook my head at my dad to make them both stand down. This was my moment. My fight.
“It was all a misunderstanding,” Riley repeated. “I’m worried about you, Cara. That guy you’re seeing, that lunatic who zip-tied me to my steering wheel... He’s dangerous.”
My mom widened her eyes. “Zip-ties? That hardly sounds reasonable.”
“And he’s old!” Riley added. “Probably your parents’ age.”
“He’s the perfect age,” I countered. “A grown-ass man, not a man-child. Not that age has anything to do with that.”
“Cara, maybe you shouldn’t be dating Riley or this other man,” my mom said.
I stared down both my parents. “This other man is a decorated veteran and a high-ranking officer at the ATF. And he only zip-tied Riley because the asshole put an illegal tracer on my phone and stalked me across two states.”
“I’ve heard enough,” my dad said. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Riley, you are no longer welcome in this house.”
My mom pointed to a black cloth bag on the other side of the entrance hall. “And take your gifts with you. You’re not going to bribe your way back into our good graces.”
“But it’s Christmas Eve.” Riley smiled. He was very pretty when he smiled, and when he showed as many teeth as he was now, it was a sign that he was in full-on charm-offensive mode.
“Getting a flight home will be hell. I’ll go to a hotel for now and come back tomorrow when everyone has calmed down,” he looked at me pointedly, “and we can have an adult conversation.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Come back here again and I’ll zip-tie your head to the steering wheel of your rental car and roll you into the street.”
“And I’ll make sure there’s oncoming traffic,” Jake added. He took my hand in solidarity.
It was a little late, but I appreciated it.
“I think Jake and I better walk you to your car,” my dad said.
Riley held up his hands. “No, it’s fine. I’m going. I just hope we can put all this ugliness behind us one day when Cara and I get back together, because we all know she belongs with me.”
I didn’t bother responding because his delusions were no longer my problem. Even if it took a restraining order and firearms training, I wasn’t letting Riley anywhere near my life ever again.
He took his bag and left without a backwards glance. Jake followed him to the front door and watched until he drove away. Then he closed and locked the door.
“Sweetie.” My mom hugged me, then my dad did as well. “We’re so glad you’re here. I’m sorry that happened. We didn’t know the truth. Riley was so convincing.”
“It shouldn’t have mattered.” I stepped back from them. “At the very least, you should have asked for my side of the story before you declared Riley the better human.”
“That’s not what we meant to do, Care Bear,” Dad said. “He’s a good liar, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
I shook my head. They still weren’t getting it.
“Here are a few things I’m not sure you’re aware of.
I’m doing great. I have people in my life who have my back.
I make enough money to pay my bills. Although you should realize that since I haven’t taken a dime from you since undergrad.
And my art makes me happy.” I laid my hand on Mother Tree’s box lid.
“Especially when it touches other people.”
“Let’s sit down and talk about this,” my mother said. “I’ll make breakfast.”
“I don’t want breakfast, Mom.”
She threw her hands into the air. “Then tell us what you do want.”
“I want respect. And an apology wouldn’t hurt,”
Dad sighed. “Cara, we have apologized, and frankly, you’re being—”
“Being what, Dad?” I met his full-on stare with an accusing glare of my own, daring him to say out loud what I knew he was thinking, what both my parents had let slip on occasion over the years.
“Being a flake? Being unserious? Being different from all of you like that’s some kind of sin?
I want two things for Christmas.” I ticked them off on my fingers.
“A true, heartfelt apology for all of it, not just today. And your respect. When you’re ready to give both of those things to me, you know my number.
” I hugged Jake, picked up my purse and clothes bag, and walked to the front door.
My family seemed frozen in shock.
“But you won’t be able to reach me for a couple of days because my phone got smashed.” I stepped out the door, then back in. “And Merry Christmas. I love you.”
I was nearly to my rental car when Jake caught up with me. “Hey, Sis, I’m sorry about all of this. And I want you to know, I respect the hell out of you and your art.”
“Thanks, Jake.”
No one who shared my blood had ever said anything nice about my art before then. I blinked back tears.
“I’ll work on Mom and Dad,” Jake said softly. “You’re right. They owe you an apology, too. And you are the fucking prize.”